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I Work At Avengers HQ

22 May 15

Before I begin I must state that if you haven't seen the latest Avengers movie then this post does contain some potential spoilers. You have been warned.

So let's go back almost a year and the was a buzz around my home town of Norwich in that there was a rumour that a major Hollywood movie was due to be filmed in the city. As the dust settled it became apparent that the move was 'Avengers - Age of Ultron' but even better it was going to be filmed where I work at the University of East Anglia.

As time went on we learnt that filming was due to take place on Friday June 13th and the location was the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts which is an art gallery and museum situated within the university campus. It was designed by the legendary Norman Foster and was completed in 1978. Apparently director Joss Whedon thought that this would be an ideal location to stage the Avengers HQ that appears at the end of the movie.

On the day before filming we crept from our offices and crouched behind bushes to witness the initial set construction. The first clue as to what was going on was an enormous Avengers being erected in the Sainsbury Centre Cafe which would set the scene for the movies climax.

On the day of filming security was tight. Crowds of UEA employees and fans gathered to watch hoards of extras (UEA students) dressed in 'Shield' attire run around and set the scene. There were also rumours that the stars of the movie would be in attendance and those who hung around weren't disappointed as the main protagonists Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans were helicoptered in to perform their parts.

Filming went on from 10am through to 4pm and scenes that made the final cut as well as many that did not were played out in front of the assembled audience.

I've never been close to a movie set before and the excitement was palpable enhanced even more that it was on our doorstep.

This week I finally got to see the finished movie. In my mind the Sainsbury Centre would be unrecognisable to us under a veil of CGI and movie magic but when the scene finally made it to the screen it was evident that they had actually done very little to the original structure of the building and had just stuck an Avengers logo on the side of it. The only other thing they had done was to obscure the adjacent university buildings with woodland and the odd mountain.

This has all been very odd considering that this is a building that I have walked past and frequented over the last 13 years so just for you I present a photo tour of Avengers HQ on its day off.